Investigation of Chemical Composition of Introduced Cultivars of Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis L.) Spears

The investigations of chemical composition of introduced cultivars of asparagus were carried out in the period from 2004 to 2012 by the scientists of the Aleksandras Stulginskis university Institute of Agricultural and food sciences. Chemical characteristics of asparagus cultivar 'Mary Washington' (control cultivar), standard cultivars: 'D'Argenteuil Primaticcio', 'Schwetzinger Meisterschub', 'Eposs', 'Sclmeekopf', 'Rambo', 'Gartner Saat'; male cultivars: 'Ravel', 'Ramos', 'Ramada', 'Rally', 'Ranger' were investigated. The amount of biologically active substances in the spears of asparagus depended on the characteristics of cultivar. Larger amounts of dry matters, crude ashes, vitamin C and nitrates were found in the spears of standard cultivars, and larger amounts of crude fat and potassium were found in the spears of male cultivars. Evaluation of chemical composition of the investigated cultivars revealed that the most valuable were spears of male cultivar 'Ravel', and spears of 'Schwetzinger Meisterschub' and 'Rambo' were more valuable between the standard cultivars.